Now don’t get me wrong. Donating to charity is a good thing, particularly during the holidays, when many charities budget for yuletide donations. But, the simple rules of economics are begging you: Give money to food banks, rather than food.

Postmedia NewsOver the years a number of exotic food items have been donated to the Calgary Food Bank. The more unusual ones are pulled aside and some now sit in a small exhibit in the warehouse.

Canned goods have a particularly low rate of charitable return. They’re heavy, they’re awkward and they can be extremely difficult to fit into a family’s meal plan. Worst of all, the average consumer is buying their canned goods at four to five times the rock-bottom bulk price that can be obtained by the food bank itself.

That $1 you spent on tuna could have purchased $4 worth of tuna if put in the hands of non-profit employee whose only job is to buy food as cheaply as possible. The savvy buyers at the Calgary Food Bank, for instance, promise that they can stretch $1 into $5.

Probably the worst tragedy of the inefficient food drive is holiday events and theater performances where organizers ask for canned food donations in lieu of selling tickets.

HEATHER WRIGHT / THIS WEEKMyles Vanni, executive director of the Inn of the Good Shepherd, and Nicola Arndt of the Lambton Kent District School Board work on the canned Christmas tree in the Lambton Mall, Sarnia, on Dec. 14, 2011.

The better option, of course, is to keep selling tickets and donate the box office take to the food bank. By not doing this, these well-meaning organizers are effectively surrendering vast amounts of critically needed grocery money in exchange for heavy cardboard boxes filled with god knows what.

And then there’s the logistical nightmare when these boxes show up at the food bank’s loading dock.

Put yourself in the place of a food bank that has just accepted an anarchic 40 pound box of random food from an office fundraiser. It’s got pie filling, Kraft Dinner, beans, pumpkin and chick peas. All those food items need to be sorted, stored, inventoried and then shoehorned into the food bank’s distribution schedule.

It’s bad form to have low-income families eat nothing but creamed corn until the stocks run dry, so some items move faster than others.

Consider the Herculean plight of the food bank warehouse manager, and it’s easy to imagine how a particularly unhelpful box of food could end up doing nothing but wasting a bunch of people’s time before it ends up shunted into a dumpster.

All this has been known for years, and yet the practice continues. There’s a few reasons for this.

First, charities are extremely leery about telling people how to donate. Nothing alienates a good samaritan faster than watching them pull up in a cube van of donated food, only to suggest that “maybe next time they just cut a cheque.” When charities get picky, it’s human for would-be donors to think that they don’t really the need the help that bad.

Second, people don’t trust charities. Charities have particularly fragile brands, and it only takes one or two charitable scandals showing up in someone’s Facebook feed for them to start casting aspersions on our nation’s non-profits.

So, by donating a flat of condensed milk instead of $30, donors feel they are insulating themselves against any unseemly corruption.

This was something seen during the Fort McMurray fires. Many Albertans, leery of seeing monetary donations vanish down some kind of bureaucratic black hole, insisted instead on donating mountains of diapers and toiletries that got wasted..

Leah Hennel/Postmedia NewsHelena Huang works at the Calgary Inter-Faith Food Bank in Calgary, Alta., on Wednesday November 30, 2016.

And lastly, something that is probably the most uncomfortable fact about all this; it doesn’t feel as good to donate money. As much as we like to pretend that charitable giving is a selfless act, a lot of it is driven by the human need to feel special and magnanimous.

And as donations go, it’s much more satisfying to donate a minivan filled with Ragu than to send a $100 e-transfer.

Charities know this, and it’s another reason why they are so hesitant to pooh-pooh canned food drives, despite the extra logistical cost. Non-profits know that people get a buzz from loudly dropping $6 worth of cans into an office hamper, and they’re happy to channel that urge towards something good.

They also know it’s a tougher sell to convince schools and offices to merely pass the hat for the hungry, rather than big photo-worthy gestures like building towers of creamed corn.

So, if you feel your coworkers or students need something spherical and tactile in order to fire their benevolent instints, then by all means hold a food drive, and remind people to stick to the always-needed staples like peanut butter and canned fish.

But if you’re a pragmatist just looking to vanquish as much poverty as possible with your disposable income, suck it up, key in your credit card number and enter the glorious world of anonymous, non-glamourous philanthropy.

That empty food hamper at your office needn’t be a mark of shame, but a badge of honour.

But don’t take my word for it. Listen to my 2014 video self in the top of this post. And check out Food Banks Canada to donate or find a food bank close to your community.

Synopsis: An office party held to land an important client gets out of hand.

There is a world of difference between Ho Ho Ho and Ha Ha Ha. Office Christmas Party manages a little of the first and not nearly enough of the second. The screenplay, by six (!) writers, some of them with credits on The Hangover and Borat, feels like an unwanted trinket that’s been hastily re-gifted.

It’s a shame, because most of the cast have also proven they can do primo comedy. Jason Bateman stars as Josh, a buttoned-down employee at Chicago high-tech firm Zenotek. He’s recently divorced, and apparently attracted to coworker Tracey (Olivia Munn), although they had to kiss before I was sure.

It’s a few days before Christmas, and Clay (T.J. Miller), the world’s most laid-back boss, is planning a non-denominational (and, it turns out, non-comedic-notional) party. But before festivities can begin, his sister, Carol (Jennifer Aniston), also Zenotek’s CEO, arrives with news that their office is on the chopping block. She also cancels the party.

Paramount

Undeterred, Josh, Tracey and Clay hatch a plan to land one big account that will save everyone’s job. They decide to woo big spender Walter Davis (Courtney B. Vance), reinstating the revelry for his benefit. What follows is a clichéd collection of inappropriate sexual shenanigans, coke-induced pratfalls and celebrity cameos – if you don’t know who Jimmy Butler is, don’t worry; they tell you, like, six times.

Filling out the cast are a couple of Saturday Night Live players, including Kate McKinnon as the one-note HR Lady; Randall Park as the firm’s new Asian accountant (all I want for Christmas is to be stereotyped), and Karan Soni as Nate, who lies about having a super hot girlfriend, then hires a prostitute to pose as one. Oh, and there’s a technology-themed twist that has to be the least believable Internet-related movie plot device since Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel lost their sex video in the cloud a few years ago.

The film has a few laughs, mostly coming from the malapropisms of Miller’s character. At one point he admits that his university degree is in “Canadian television theory – with a concentration on Drake.”

He also delivers a half-joke, which is a screenwriting trick that’s fascinated me since Judd Nelson fell through the ceiling telling one in The Breakfast Club. Coming out of an elevator, Miller is telling Bateman’s character: “The gorilla says, ‘$12 for a martini? I can see why not!’”

Bateman’s reply is stony-faced: “You sure do know a lot of gorilla jokes.” He’s not laughing during the film. Neither was I.

I have always loved peppermint and chocolate together and peppermint bark is my favourite way to eat it. Or it was — until I created this peppermint bark variation.

My mother made spritz cookies every Christmas for as long as I can remember. She always made the simple butter cookies in both chocolate and vanilla and we decorated them with coloured sugar sprinkles.

My favourite shape was the poinsettia, because you could eat the cookie one petal at a time.

The hardest thing about making this recipe is using the cookie press. There is no way around it — you need a cookie press.

My mother used her mother’s cookie press until it stopped working and since then, we have both purchased many cookie presses trying to find one that was smooth and easy to work.

A cookie press looks like the culinary version of a caulking gun and deposits only enough dough to make one cookie.

I tried quite a few presses and the best one that I have found so far is the OXO cookie press.

I also love that it comes with all the traditional patterns like the Christmas tree, wreath and several flowers, but also has an elegant fleur de lis and a heart for endless variations.

You can also buy extra seasonal discs and make spritz year round.

The extra Christmas discs also have a great bow design that would be perfect for baby and bridal shower parties.

Cookie presses like the OXO Good Grips with stainless-steel discs work better than presses with plastic plates.

Once you have a good press, all you need to make the cookie dough is a bowl and a blending fork, or your hands.

I’ve taken the basic chocolate spritz cookie recipe and instead of decorating with sugar, I decorate with melted chocolate, sprinkling with crushed peppermint candies and drizzling with white chocolate to create my peppermint bark spritz cookie. It’s the best of all worlds.

1. Preheat oven to 400°F (205°C).2. Mix butter, unsweetened chocolate and sugar together until creamy. Add egg yolks one at a time to combine. Add vanilla and mix thoroughly.3. Using your hands or a blending fork, work in the flour, a little at a time, until smooth.4. Divide dough into 2-3 pieces and roll them into a tube shape and cover with wax paper. Chill dough for 30 minutes. When the dough is chilled, place the roll in the cookie press tube and choose cookie plate for your design. Press the cookies out one at a time onto an ungreased cookie sheet.5. Bake 7 to 10 minutes or until set, but not brown. Remove from cookie sheet after 1 minute, and gently place on a cooling rack. Let cookies cool completely.6. Melt chocolate and place in a decorating bag or a re-closable plastic bag. When ready to decorate cookies, snip a small corner at one end of the bag for the chocolate to flow through.7. When the cookies are cool, carefully drizzle melted semisweet chocolate on the top of the cookie. While the chocolate is still warm, sprinkle with crushed peppermint candies so the candy will stick to the chocolate, then drizzle with melted white chocolate.8. Place in the refrigerator to set the chocolate for at least 1 hour before serving.9. Store in an airtight container in a cool place.Makes: about 5 dozen cookies

Prices for French foie gras could be as much as 10 per cent higher this Christmas, industry spokesperson Marie-Pierre Pé told The Guardian.

Just in time for the busy holiday season, an aggressive strain of bird flu – the H5N8 virus – has been detected in France’s south-west. The agriculture ministry has deemed it at high risk of spreading, and The Guardian reports that foie gras producers were obligated to slaughter thousands of birds.

The same region was hit by a bird flu outbreak in 2015 – a flare-up that led to an estimated €500m ($713m) loss for the French foie gras industry. An export ban is in place preventing French foie gras from being exported outside the European Union.

Along with caviar-topped blinis and a glass of bubbly, the controversial delicacy – fattened duck or goose liver – is a traditional part of the Christmas Eve feast (known as le réveillon) in France. According to The Guardian, the holiday period accounts for approximately one-third of annual French foie gras sales.

If Christmas just isn’t Christmas without foie gras, sticking with a Quebec producer may be your best bet. A 120-g can of moulard duck foie gras will run you $25 from Les Canardises in Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges.

The process of producing foie gras – gavage (pumping feed directly into the duck or goose’s stomach) – remains controversial and is routinely criticized by animal rights groups such as PETA. Production is prohibited in countries such as Australia and Argentina, and a ban was only overturned last year in California.

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/life/food-drink/french-foie-gras-could-get-even-more-expensive-exports-banned-due-to-bird-flu/feed0std. An export ban is in place preventing French foie gras from being exported outside the European Union.‘It is not beautiful’: Montreal’s Charlie Brown Christmas tree the target of jokes and ridiculehttp://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/it-is-not-beautiful-montreals-charlie-brown-christmas-tree-the-target-of-jokes-ridicule
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MONTREAL – Montreal has fallen short in its effort to claim the title for North America’s tallest Christmas tree, but it remains a strong contender for the continent’s ugliest tree.

Since it went up last week, the spindly, lopsided balsam fir — its tip apparently clipped off during transport — has become the butt of online jokes and disparaging remarks by passersby.

“It is not beautiful. There is not even a head at the top,” Louise Bernier said Monday as she walked along a slippery Ste. Catherine Street sidewalk.

“I don’t like it, not one bit. But I guess we’ll have to get used to looking at it.”

The tree’s stubby branches are decorated not with ornaments but with Canadian Tire logos, in honour of the company that sponsored the tree’s placement and paid for the lights. (The value of the sponsorship was not disclosed. Tourism Montreal spent $2,500 in public funds on the project.)

Anne Thomas and her friends were laughing at the tree as they walked by at lunchtime Monday. Although she appreciated that the tree is natural, she called the decorations “tacky” and said too much emphasis was placed on size.

“It’s maybe not the quantity but the quality that’s important,” Thomas said.

(John Kenney/PostmediaPhilippe Pelletier of Sapin MTL, the company that delivered Montreal's Christmas tree.

As part of Montreal’s 375th anniversary celebrations beginning Jan. 1, a local Christmas tree delivery company proposed to organizers that North America’s tallest Christmas tree be erected on the site of a downtown Christmas market. That honour has traditionally been held by New York City’s Rockefeller Center.

When Sapin MTL, the delivery company, learned last month that the tree headed for Rockefeller was taller than usual, a whopping 94 feet, it sent out an alert asking Quebecers to send in pictures of trees that might be bigger than the New York tree.

The tallest they could find was identified by a Christmas tree grower outside Sherbrooke, Que., but once it was chopped down it came up short: 88 feet, or nearly 27 metres.

Philippe Pelletier, a co-founder of Sapin MTL, said he has been surprised by the virulent reaction to the tree, which stands in the city’s Place des Festivals.

“We never expected that a Christmas tree could create that much controversy, that much reaction,” he said. “What we delivered is a natural Quebec tree, as a Quebec tree should be. People have in mind that a Christmas tree should be perfect, but that’s not the reality.”

Shaune ThompsonMontreal's flawed Christmas tree has been called “an opportunity to celebrate diversity.”

Unlike the Rockefeller tree, which Pelletier said undergoes a little cosmetic surgery to make it symmetrical, the Montreal tree was not touched up.

“We’re asking everybody to look at the tree for more than five minutes and ask, why do they think it’s an ugly tree? Maybe after five minutes people will realize that this tree is just as unique as they are, as unique as Montreal is. … It’s an opportunity to celebrate diversity.”

Marc Brault, discussing the homely tree with friends, would rather be celebrating filled potholes.

“It would have been better if it had remained in the forest,” he said. “Instead of paying money for festivities, why don’t we invest in maintaining our city — the roads, for example?”

Each season, countless industry brands big and small get into the Christmas spirit by offering prettily packaged products that excite recreational makeup mavens and professional artists alike. This year is no exception.

Lipstick fans, rejoice! A trio of organic beauty brand Ilia’s top shades — including Bang Bang, Femme Fatale and Nobody’s Baby — are available in mini versions thanks to a limited-edition collaboration with Canadian accessories brand Baggu.

Giving the gift of a spa experience is simple thanks to the Pure Indulgence box set from Aromatherapy Associates. The kit includes the brand’s Revive Body Wash, Support Lavender & Peppermint Bath & Shower Oil, Relax Body Oil and a Relax Candle. Basically, it’s all the things one would need to create an oasis of relaxation.

Collectible tins go way beyond holding cookies and chocolates this holiday season thanks to this new Benefit gift box. The Girls Gone Wow set includes a full-sized They’re Real! Mascara in Beyond Black, Porefessional and Gimme Brow, as well as a travel-size They’re Real! Tinted Primer — all in a collectible doll-head tin.

This beauty gift set is almost too gorgeous to use. Almost. The collaboration between Nars and famed photographer Sarah Moon features an ethereal image on the outside, and some seriously chic beauty goodies on the inside.

The Body Shop is celebrating the holiday season while simultaneously celebrating 40 years of best-selling products with the Iconic Collection Gift Set. The company has packaged it’s top products including the Fuji Green Tea Shower Gel and British Rose Instant Glow Body Essence into one package for its milestone anniversary.

This pretty palette has more to offer than 10 dramatic eyeshadow shades. The Essentials is crafted from raw materials that are 93 per cent of natural origin, non-comedogenic and paraben-free. Plus, the packaging is reusable. Clarins has also teamed up with Pur Projet to plant 10,000 trees in the Brazilian Amazon and will plant one tree for each palette sold.

Ask any beauty fan what’s the one thing they can never get enough of and they’ll likely say the same thing: brushes (and lipstick, and highlighter, and …). The Les Minis de Chanel sees the French brand conveniently package six “essential” makeup brushes in a chic travel-friendly case. C’est magnifique!

Perfect for the full-time makeup pro who would appreciate a full-face kit, the Smashbox Light It Up set includes shades carefully curated from the brand’s Los Angeles photo studio team. Housed inside a neon lucite box, it includes a Contour palette; a Photo Op Eye Shadow palette; and a Be Legendary lipstick palette.

Not everything that shines has to sparkle. Case in point: this smooth highlighting palette from Stila. The release includes a trio of “bouncy to the touch” cream-powder shades that feature ultrafine particles to diffuse light for a natural-looking glow.

Know someone who refuses to skip a blowout? Now they can do it in the comfort of their own home with this professional-quality Blowout Kit from Drybar. The gift set includes a full-sized Buttercup Blow-Dryer, Full Pint Medium Round Brush, High Top Self-Grip Roller and more.

There are holiday makeup palettes, and then there is this mega boxset from Too Faced. The set features a whimsical exterior and three full-sized face palettes for a total of 18 matte and shimmer eyeshadows, two blushes, a bronzer, and a “deluxe size” Better Than Sex Mascara.

What’s better than pre-packaged goodies that are perfectly sized to ensure they’re TSA approved? Said items contained within a cute canvas tote. The travel-friendly set includes five products — each weighing in at less than 100 mL — so you can carry on all your necessities without fearing any bag-check fallout.

Give the gift of good blending with this trio of blending sponges from The Face Shop. The egg-shaped items can be used to seamlessly apply liquid, cream or powder formulas for an “airbrushed” appearance.

Soft feet shouldn’t be saved for the summer season, but regular pedicures can get pricey. The Amopé Pedicure Set aims to keep the cost in check by providing a few skin-smoothing products in one pack including the new rechargeable and waterproof Pedi Perfect Wet & Dry smoothing tool.

My mother loved to bake and Christmas was when she could relish in this love unimpeded. Her repertoire spanned a large amount of the globe. There were mézes krémes, a Hungarian bar of alternating pastry and semolina cream, frosted with chocolate. In my family it was called “Hungarian honey cake” because there was honey in the dough. The recipe was absorbed into my extended family via my uncles’ Hungarian wife who was a fantastic baker. Then there were schneckens, a wedge of thin, sour cream pastry rolled around a walnut, cinnamon and sugar filling. Depending on where you’re from, these can be called rugelach or butterhorns.

Following those were Mexican wedding cakes, linzer bars, shortbread, fudge, apricot bars, walnut bars, mincemeat turnovers, and three “ball” confections that are still popular today: sugar plums, cherry coconut balls and rum balls. Sugar plums were concocted out of a box of dry, cherry Jell-O mixed with condensed milk and coconut. The mixture was rolled into balls, then rolled in sugar. A whole clove was inserted in the top, not meant to be eaten, only to impart a visual and much welcome flavour contrast. The cherry balls were maraschino cherries encased in a “dough” of icing sugar, butter and coconut. The rum balls were, well, rum balls. They were never one of my favourites.

If you count them all up there are twelve cookies. And she didn’t make a dozen of each, there were hundreds by the time she was finished and she would sometimes throw one or two new recipes into the mix. Nothing was ever burnt, haphazard or messy. Was my mother crazy? She never appeared so and even calmly packed boxes of cookies to ship to relatives when all the cookies were done.

My mother was not a last minute person; she was highly organized when it came to pulling off this feat. The “good keepers” were made well in advance, followed up by those with a shorter shelf life. And there were easy, no bake items thrown into the mix. Only two or three were fiddly and the rest fairly easy to execute. She made lists and did the shopping in one fell swoop. We didn’t have a separate freezer for much of my childhood, the sub-zero Ottawa winters kept the cookies chilled on our windowsills.

We sometimes despair when we discover that we are turning into our parents. When it comes to baking organization and trying a few different recipes every year I’m glad I inherited my mother’s zeal. You may not want to be like your mother if she only made two cookies and burned one of them. I know my mother wouldn’t mind if you borrowed her to give you a hand.

Related

CHRISTMAS CASSEROLE COOKIES
These smell like Christmas and are easy to make with children. I think these make a far better “sugarplum” than the Jell-O/condensed milk variety. And, they are gluten and dairy free.
I specify whole dried cranberries, available in the bulk section of grocery stores, because they are tart. To my taste, the more common sliced ones don’t really have much flavour at all.

1. Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C).2. Beat the eggs with the sugar, vanilla, almond extract, orange zest, cinnamon and salt. Stir in the cranberries, dates, coconut and pecans; scrape into a 2 qt (2 L) round casserole dish. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and while hot, beat well to cream the dates. Cool completely. Roll 2 tsp (10 mL) of the mixture balls. Roll in granulated sugar or cocoa powder, or do half with each. Refrigerate airtight between wax or parchment paper for 4 weeks.Makes: approximately 30 pieces

GINGER CRUNCH
This gingery New Zealand classic makes a wonderful Christmas treat. The 6 tsp (30 mL) of ginger in this recipe is correct.

1. Heat oven to 350°F (175°C). Butter and line a 9 x 13-inch (22.5 x 32.5 cm) baking pan with parchment paper.2. Whisk flour, baking powder, salt and 2 tsp (10 mL) ginger together until combined. In the bowl of the food processor or with a hand mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Add flour mixture slowly and pulse or mix slowly until a crumbly dough is formed. Transfer to the pan and press out evenly. Bake in centre of oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.3. When there’s 5 minutes of time left on the base, combine butter, icing sugar, golden syrup and ginger in a small pot. Over high heat, bring to a full boil, stirring constantly. Spread over the warm base.4. While still warm, cut the pastry crosswise into 6 even sections and lengthwise into 8 even sections crosswise. Leave to cool in the pan for 2-3 hours or overnight. Store airtight between wax or parchment paper for 2 weeks. Freeze for longer storage.Makes: 48 squares

MARZIPAN JAM BARS
For this bar, I took the elements that I liked from two similar Czechoslovakian and Hungarian recipes and made them into one.

1. Heat oven to 325°F (160°C). In a large bowl, either with a mixer or by hand, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and mix well. Add flour, salt and walnuts; mix on low speed until well incorporated.2. Divide the dough in half. Wrap one half and freeze while you make the base from the other half.3. Press the remaining half of dough evenly into a 9 x 13-inch (22.5 x 32.5 cm) pan lined with parchment paper. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 15-20 minutes until lightly golden. Let cool on a rack.4. Break the marzipan into small pieces and sprinkle over the crust. With lightly oiled fingers, press the marzipan evenly over surface. Dot with jam then spread it evenly over marzipan.5. Remove dough from freezer and shred using the large holes on a grater. Sprinkle evenly over the filling. Do not press it down. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.6. While still warm, cut the pastry crosswise into 6 even sections and lengthwise into 8 even sections crosswise. Leave to cool in the pan for 2-3 hours or overnight. Store airtight between wax or parchment paper for 2 weeks. Freeze for longer storage.Makes: 48 bars

KOURABIEDES
This traditional Greek Christmas cookie is also served at weddings and baptisms.
The recipe varies but the one thing they all agree on is an avalanche of icing sugar. Do not inhale while eating these cookies or the icing sugar will make you cough.
Some recipes include a whole clove stuck into the top of each cookie and a sprinkling of rosewater when they come out of the oven. If this appeals to you, try it on half of the batch.

1. Place the cooled almonds in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Alternatively, place in a sealed plastic bag and crush till fine with a rolling pin. Whisk the flour, salt and baking powder together2. With a mixer, cream butter and 1/2 cup (125 mL) icing sugar on medium high speed until very white and fluffy, 10-15 minutes. It should resemble whipped cream. Add egg yolks and beat 5 minutes further. Stir in flour 1/2 cup (125 mL) at a time to create a smooth, pliable dough. Stir in the almonds. Cover loosely and let rest for 1 hour.3. Heat oven to 350°F (175°C). Roll into balls using 4 tsp (20 mL) of the dough for each. Flatten slightly, making a tiny indent with your finger in the top to hold more of the icing sugar.4. Place 1-inch (2.5 cm) apart on parchment lined cookie sheets. Bake 1 tray at a time on the middle rack of the oven for 25-30 minutes until golden brown on the bottoms.5. Sieve icing sugar on to a cool baking sheet or large platter and transfer the cookies to it while they are still warm. Sift icing sugar generously over the cookies, sifting with more as the cookies melt the sugar. Let cool. Move the cookies carefully so as not to disturb the icing sugar. You can put the cookies into little paper cups to keep the icing sugar intact. Store airtight between wax or parchment paper for 4 weeks. Freeze for longer storage.Makes: approximately 60 cookies

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/life/food-drink/christmas-cookies-from-moms-kitchen-traditional-greek-kourabiedes-and-more-sweet-treats/feed1stdKourabiedes: This traditional Greek Christmas cookie is also served at weddings and baptisms.Anne Applebaum: Today’s winners may be tomorrow’s losershttp://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/anne-applebaum-todays-winners-may-be-tomorrows-losers
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George Washington and his troops spent Christmas Day 1776 along the Delaware River, preparing for a dangerous night crossing. The wind was blowing hard; the water was filled with floating chunks of broken ice. One 16-year-old soldier remembered that “it rained, hailed, snowed and froze, and at the same time blew a perfect hurricane,” although historian David McCullough observed that the wind was a blessing: it covered the noise of the crossing and allowed Washington’s army to carry out a victorious attack on the village of Trenton.

To those who were there, that surprise Christmas success seemed to be a turning point. It secured Washington’s leadership, reinforced morale and persuaded Congress to keep backing a war that had been going badly. To many, it suddenly seemed as if the revolution could really be won: “The troops behaved like men contending for everything that was dear and valuable,” one of Washington’s officers wrote to his wife. And perhaps he was right: looking back, it does indeed seem that the events of that day changed the mood of the troops, the course of the war and probably the course of history.

One hundred and thirty-eight years later, British and German soldiers spent Christmas Day of 1914 facing one another along the Western Front. But that morning, the Germans put up decorations in their trenches and began singing Silent Night. The British responded with carols of their own. After a few hours, soldiers began to poke their heads above the parapet; soon others scrambled up onto the No Man’s Land in between. In a few places, men exchanged trinkets or played soccer before climbing back into the trenches.

To those who were there, that extraordinary Christmas Day truce seemed to be a turning point. It showed that the war was pointless; it could not continue, it had to be stopped. One young soldier remembered feeling that “if only he could tell them all at home what was really happening, and if the German soldiers told their people the truth about us, the war would be over.” But he was wrong. Two days later, his unit received an order: men found fraternizing with the enemy would be court-martialed and could be shot. The fighting began again, the First World War lasted four more years and hundreds of thousands of other young soldiers died before it was finished. Looking back, the Christmas truce was an anomaly, not a turning point.

Sixty-five years later, Red Army troops spent Christmas Day of 1979 along the southern border of the Soviet Union, preparing to invade Afghanistan. The invasion had begun on Christmas Eve; by Dec. 27, a KGB team was in Kabul. The mission was supposed to be peaceful — the U.S.S.R. was coming to the aid of a fraternal Afghan communist government, after all — but one battalion commander told his troops to be prepared: “If a single shot is fired at you, you should open up with everything you’ve got.”

Even at the time, many in Moscow were skeptical. British diplomat Rod­ric Braithwaite observed that “the Russians had foreseen all the disadvantages of forceful intervention” and even expected “international pariahdom.” But to those who were there, the invasion felt like a success — even a turning point. One Soviet official declared that “it had been a remarkably daring, successful and — considering the circumstances — cheap affair.” Another remembered that the Afghans “greeted our soldiers warmly, gave them flowers and called them liberators.”

They were wrong. The Afghan war was a disaster, both at home and abroad. It created a backlash among the Soviet Union’s allies and dissatisfaction and anger among soldiers and their families. It destroyed the national budget, the national reputation. Indeed, looking back, it seems clear that the invasion of Afghanistan was the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union. Exactly 12 years later, on Christmas Day of 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned and the country ceased to exist.

And the moral of the story? There isn’t one, really — except this: sometimes a victorious battle really is a victorious battle. But sometimes it isn’t. Whatever seems certain this Christmas — the victory of Donald Trump, the triumph of the Islamic State, the resurgence of the empire Gorbachev abandoned — might well look different in a month, in a year or even in a decade. Merry Christmas.

After some 10 days and a $1-billion box office, it seems quite impossible to spoil the new Star Wars film for anyone interested, but for those who do not wish to know what happens, please join those who skip this column as a matter of routine and turn elsewhere.

The Star Wars franchise has set all sorts of records, and has achieved a new one this year: the earliest spoiler. It came out 38 years ago and was called Star Wars (Episode IV). If you saw it then, you have already seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Episode VII).

The new film is nothing more than a remake of the original, with enhanced special effects. Fans who worried about what might happen to their beloved franchise without the involvement of creator George Lucas needn’t have; this new film uses the same screenplay as the original, which means the credits are rather churlish in not listing Lucas as the screenwriter.

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To their credit, the screenwriters were sufficiently embarrassed by their lack of imagination that they inserted jokes by Han Solo to the effect that, while this time ’round, the Death Star is even bigger, there is “always” a weak spot. Sure enough, the “dark side” loses its third Death Star to the intergalactic equivalent of a mosquito, the X-wing fighter, exploiting that persistent and pesky design flaw that, when hit just right, sets the whole planetary edifice alight. For the finale in Episode IX, I suppose we can expect a Death Star so big that it might take two X-wing fighters to start the fatal inferno.

The reprise that drew my attention most was the father-son dynamic, a fruitful subject for meditation at Christmas. In the original film, before we know his backstory, Darth Vader kills Obi-Wan Kenobi. We later discover that the pre-Vader Anakin Skywalker, mysteriously generated without a father, sees Obi-Wan as a father figure. This time, the villain is Vader’s grandson, the son of Han Solo and Princess Leia, who wears a voice-altering mask, not because he needs one, but apparently in homage to his grandfather. Kylo Ren is the name, and he kills his actual father, Han Solo.

Patricide is the threshold for the dark side. The archvillains are willing to kill their fathers. Luke Skywalker, the true Jedi, Vader’s son and Leia’s twin sister, refuses to kill his own father, despite ample reasons to do so.

This could be nothing more than Psychology 101 with lightsabers, but at Christmastime, one is inclined to think about something rather more profound than that. The father as a rival to be bested, or even a tyrant to be slayed, can be reduced to dime-store psychology, but it also speaks to a theological view of reality in its fullest depth.

At the heart of reality — which is what we mean when we speak about God — is there a father who shows mercy, or a tyrant who exploits? Is the proper response one of reciprocal love or abject fear? To the degree that the force is some sort of reflection of created order, that’s the question at the heart of Star Wars — at the deepest level of reality, do we discover a father who is good, or a tyrant who is evil? Special effects and the allure of space travel aside, that is one reason why the films still attract viewers as they head toward their fifth decade.

“As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.” So instructs Psalm 103, bringing together both dimensions of compassion and fear. In countries of Christian heritage, we find it easy to think of God as a Father, for that is how Jesus Christ reveals Him to us. But that idea was once revolutionary. In the world of the ancient near east or, for that matter, in the new world of the Aztecs or Mayans, great and impressive civilizations worshipped gods who were always rivals and often tyrants. They were to be feared and, one hoped, appeased.

Into that world, the idea of a God who is like a father in His care for man was a radical departure in the revelation to Abraham and the Jewish people. The Christian confession that God in fact is a father, and that a merciful father, not a jealous tyrant, is at the heart of reality, is the principal goods news of the Christian gospel.

“God so loved the world that He sent His only Son … that the world might be saved” — that’s the reason for Christmas. Only a real father can send a son. A merciful father seeks the salvation, not destruction, of his children. That’s the story of Christmas, even older than that of the Jedi and the Sith.

BETHLEHEM — Christian faithful from around the world on Thursday descended on the biblical city of Bethlehem for Christmas Eve celebrations at the traditional birthplace of Jesus, trying to lift spirits on a holiday dampened by months of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

The fighting cast a pall over the celebrations. Crowds were thin and hotel rooms were empty. While the annual festivities in Bethlehem’s Manger Square went on, other celebrations in the city were cancelled or toned down.

“There’s lights, there’s carols, but there’s an underlying sense of tension,” said Paul Haines of Cornwall, England, who arrived in Bethlehem following a four-month trek from Rome.

Bethlehem has been a focal point for clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian protesters during a three-month wave of violence that has gripped the region.

MUSA AL-SHAER/AFP/Getty ImagesA Palestinian protester, wearing a gas mask, looks on during clashes with Israeli security forces at the main entrance of the West Bank city of Bethlehem on December 25, 2015.

The city was quiet on Thursday, although violence raged elsewhere in the West Bank. Israeli authorities said three Palestinian assailants were killed as they carried out, or tried to carry out, stabbing or car-ramming attacks against Israeli security personnel, and a fourth Palestinian was killed in clashes with Israeli troops, a Palestinian hospital official said. Two Israeli security guards and a soldier were wounded.

Lisette Rossman, a 22-year-old student from Albuquerque, N.M., said the violence made her think twice about visiting a friend studying in Jerusalem. She said she was glad she made the trip because “it was one of my dreams to come here.”

Since mid-September, Palestinian attacks, mostly stabbings and shootings, have killed 20 Israelis, while Israeli fire has killed 124 Palestinians, among them 85 said by Israel to be attackers. The rest were killed in clashes with Israeli forces. Israel accuses Palestinian leaders of inciting the violence. The Palestinians say it is the result of nearly 50 years of military occupation.

MUSA AL-SHAER/AFP/Getty ImagesAn Israeli soldier takes aim during clashes with Palestinian protesters at the main entrance of the West Bank city of Bethlehem on December 25, 2015.

In Manger Square, local activists placed an olive tree they said was uprooted by the Israeli army in a nearby village, and surrounded it with barbed wire and decorated it with spent tear gas canisters fired by Israeli troops and photographs of Palestinians killed or arrested in recent violence.

“We’re in Bethlehem celebrating Christmas, celebrating the birthday of our lord Jesus Christ. This is the birthplace of the king of peace, so what we want is peace,” said Rula Maayah, the Palestinian tourism minister.

I feel safe in Bethlehem

In the evening, several thousand people crowded into Manger Square, admiring the town’s glittering Christmas tree and listening to holiday music played by marching bands and scout troops. Palestinian vendors hawked coffee, tea and Santa hats. Young children sold sticks of gum.

But at 9 p.m., traditionally a bustling time of the evening, there were few tourists to drink the local wine sold on the square or to eat the freshly fried falafel.

As the festivities got underway, Miral Siriani, a 35-year-old publicist from Jerusalem, said she was relieved to get a break from three months of tension that has included numerous attacks in her city.

“I feel safe in Bethlehem,” she said.

MUSA AL-SHAER/AFP/Getty ImagesA Palestinian protester kicks a burning tire during clashes with Israeli security forces at the main entrance of the West Bank city of Bethlehem on December 25, 2015.

In recent years, Bethlehem had enjoyed a relative calm and thousands of revellers and pilgrims poured into Manger Square each Christmas. But vendors and hotel owners complained of sagging business this Christmas season.

Xavier Abu Eid, a Palestinian official, said hotel bookings were down 25 per cent from last year, which itself was weak following a war between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip several months earlier.

Some Palestinians hoped holiday cheer would replace the gloom. Said Nustas, dressed in a Santa Claus suit, rang a Christmas bell on a narrow asphalt street as he prepared to deliver gifts from a toy store to children nearby.

“The situation is what it is, a war and intifada,” Nustas said. “But God willing, we’ll overcome it and celebrate.”

Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal led a procession from his Jerusalem headquarters into Bethlehem, passing through a military checkpoint and past Israel’s concrete separation barrier, which surrounds much of the town.

Israel built the barrier a decade ago to stop a wave of suicide bombings. Palestinians say the structure has stifled Bethlehem’s economy.

In Bethlehem, Twal wished “peace and love” for all.

Twal led worshippers in a Midnight Mass at the Church of the Nativity, built atop the spot where Christians believe Jesus was born.

In his homily, Twal expressed sympathy for the plight of Palestinians, Syrian refugees and “victims of all forms of terrorism everywhere,” according to a transcript issued by his office. He wished “all inhabitants of the Holy Land” a happy and healthy new year.

“We pray to change the face of the world, that our world be a safe dwelling place and refuge, where justice prevails over rivalry and conflict, mercy over vengeance, charity over hatred,” he said.

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis issued a Christmas Day prayer that recent UN-backed peace agreements for Syria and Libya will quickly end the suffering of their people, denouncing the “monstrous evil” and atrocities they have endured and praising the countries that have taken in their refugees.

Speaking from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, Francis issued a plenary indulgence for Catholics in hopes of spreading the church’s message of mercy in a world torn by war, poverty and extremist attacks. The sun-soaked St. Peter’s Square was under heavy security, as it has been since the Nov. 13 Paris attacks by Islamic extremists that left 130 dead.

An indulgence is an ancient church tradition related to the forgiveness of sins. Francis announced it after delivering his annual “Urbi et Orbi (To the city and the world)” speech listing global hotspots and his prayers for an end to human suffering.

Francis referred to the “brutal acts of terrorism” that struck the French capital this year as well as attacks in Egypt’s airspace, in Beirut, Mali and Tunisia. He denounced the ongoing conflicts in Africa, the Middle East and Ukraine and issued consolation to Christians being persecuted for their faith in many parts of the planet.

“They are our martyrs of today,” he said.

Gregorio Borgia / APPope Francis holds a statue of Baby Jesus as he leaves at the end of the Christmas Eve Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Thursday, Dec. 24, 2015.

In an indirect reference to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, he said: “May the attention of the international community be unanimously directed to ending the atrocities which in those countries, as well as in Iraq, Libya, Yemen and sub-Saharan Africa, even now reap numerous victims, cause immense suffering and do not even spare the historical and cultural patrimony of entire peoples.”

Francis said he hoped the plenary indulgence he issued for this, his Holy Year of Mercy, would encourage the faithful “to welcome God’s mercy in our lives, and be merciful with our brothers to make peace grow.”

“Only God’s mercy can free humanity from the many forms of evil, at times monstrous evil, which selfishness spawns in our midst,” he said.

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Libya has been in a state of lawlessness since dictator Moammar Gadhafi was overthrown in 2011. Syria has seen a five-year war that has killed over 250,000 people and forced millions to flee the country. The surge of refugees flowing out of Syria to Europe has created a migration crisis for the entire continent.

“We pray to the Lord that the agreement reached in the United Nations may succeed in halting as quickly as possible the clash of arms in Syria and in remedying the extremely grave humanitarian situation of its suffering people,” he said. “It is likewise urgent that the agreement on Libya be supported by all, so as to overcome the grave divisions and violence afflicting the country.”

Francis praised both individuals and countries that have taken in refugees fleeing “inhuman conditions,” saying their generosity had helped the newcomers “build a dignified future for themselves and for their dear ones, and to be integrated in the societies which receive them.”

Gregorio Borgia / APPope Francis delivers his "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and to the world) blessing from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Friday, Dec. 25, 2015.

That winsome carol will be sung in churches the world over tonight, set to that most English of all melodies, Greensleeves. “What child is this, who laid to rest, in Mary’s lap is sleeping?”

The carol marvels that the most unremarkable, if lovely, scenes, that of a child sleeping in his mother’s lap, could be the long-awaited answer to the desire of the everlasting hills. Could this most ordinary of domestic scenes hearken the arrival of the “King of Kings, (whom) salvation brings”?

The world took notice this year of a child, laid to rest, but not in his mother’s lap, and not sleeping. What child is this? The child is Alan Kurdi, lying dead on a Turkish beach, a refugee from Syria. Salvation of an earthly sort did not come for little Alan, but the image of the dead child in the surf roused the consciences of the world.

The cynic would say it confirmed only the working principle of the totalitarian butchers of the last century, that one death is a tragedy, a million is only a statistic. True enough, for Alan Kurdi was a refugee like literally millions of others. But the world would be darker, surely, if a young boy, washed up on the beach amidst the flotsam and jetsam of human tragedy, did not capture our attention. If we did not ask ourselves, What child is this?

The good news that Christians recall in Bethlehem is the flipside of the Turkish beach. The ordinary coming of the child is never just the ordinary coming of a child. C.S. Lewis reminded us that even the most ordinary human interaction is an encounter with an immortal, with someone destined for eternity. The difference, the disciples of Jesus Christ believe, is that the baby in Mary’s lap came from eternity too, the eternal Son of the Father, who was with God and was God before all things existed.

“It is a message from God sent to the world,” said Alan’s father, Abdullah, about how the image of his dead son changed global refugee policy.

Every child, created in the image and likeness of God as the Torah teaches, is a message from God. It is, as countless preachers have put it over the years, a message that God has not given up on this world, marred though it be by manifold human wickedness.

The wickedness that drove Alan out of Syria and into the sea is not new. Soon after the birth of Jesus, Matthew’s Gospel tells us that the local tyrant, King Herod, was agitated about the news he heard from Bethlehem. What child is this? It is a threat! And so Herod ordered the slaughter of all the male infants in Bethlehem, lest the newborn Jesus undermine his reign. To avoid the massacre, Joseph took his wife Mary and the little baby into Egypt. What child is this? A refugee from the bloodthirsty tyrant of his day.

Christians and Jews cannot close their ears to the cries of the refugee

It was oft-remarked this past year that while the various countries of the “Christian West” were scrambling to receive large numbers of largely Muslim refugees from Syria, the same refugees found little or no welcome at all, for example, among the wealthy, Arab, Muslim states of the Gulf. Could it be that, even among those countries where Christian heritage is greatly attenuated, the memory remains that the Christian God was a refugee? The Torah reminds Jews that they were slaves, strangers and sojourners, that they in turn might have compassion upon those similarly afflicted. Christians and Jews cannot close their ears to the cries of the refugee — particularly those fleeing lethal persecution precisely for their faith — and this contributes to the common good of our country, and our pride as Canadians in the welcome we have extended, not just this year, but for many years when refugees were not in the headlines.

For the Christian disciple, Christmas can never only be about worthy efforts to make our common home more hospitable. The Christian professes that this earthly sojourn offers no abiding home, but that all of history is the story of the human race as a refugee, estranged from the paradise God created in the beginning. The Christian lives in history as if attempting to find suitable lodgings — perhaps amongst the ox and ass around the manger, with the cattle gently lowing — until a definitive return to a heavenly homeland is possible. Christmas tells us not only about a refugee family from Nazareth by way of David’s royal city, but of the beginning of the end of the great exile, the great estrangement. What child is this? The one who will lead his people home.

To our readers, with whom we have shared the heartbreaking stories of children and much else this past year, we wish a Merry Christmas, and hopes of a better year to come.

Re: Where Are The Climate Celebrations?, Rex Murphy, Dec. 19.As Rex Murphy points out, more people are interested in holiday shopping — a crime against the planet that should have been high on the agenda for all the wealthy government envirocrats and environmentalists in Paris — than global warming.

Rampant consumerism, particularly the frenzied acquisition we see during the holiday season, should have been a concern for the chardonnay-swilling, caviar-munching delegates. But most of them were probably out shopping in the city’s haute boutiques. The environmental fallout from nutty consumerism probably didn’t even register.

As Murphy points out, many people are suffering in Canada and elsewhere as a result of the collapse in oil and other commodity prices. But I doubt the delegates in Paris cared much about that. They’re all part of the parasitical NGO sector that keeps them in well-paid, cushy jobs. As the holiday shopping season comes to an end, let’s remember buying less and refusing to engage in Black Friday insanity do more for the planet than all the hot air – and the massive carbon footprint – generated by the gabfest in Paris.Andrew van Velzen, Toronto.

Lack of transparency

Re: Liberals Halt First Nations Sanctions, Dec. 19; Liberals Move To Repeal Union Law, Dec. 22.How quickly Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his government have revealed their true nature. Within weeks of their election, they are repealing the laws requiring First Nations’ band to publish the salaries of their chiefs and band finances, and unions to publish their bureaucrats’ salaries and spending. The Conservatives’ courageous initiatives to allow everyone to see how the money is spent are history.Iain G. Foulds, Spruce Grove, Alta.

Justin Trudeau was complaining about the Conservative Party’s lack of transparency only a few months ago. Now we discover his government plans to cancel all efforts to show transparency and allow labour unions to conceal their accounts from us, although most of the population and most union members are strongly against permitting such concealment. Presumably, First Nations will also be allowed to hide their accounts, toward which all taxpayers contribute. Trudeau has already shown how little he cares about Canadians, whether they voted for him or not.Martin Gough, Victoria.

Costing F-35s

Re: The F-35 Is Best, Richard Shimooka, Dec. 21.Richard Shimooka admits there are new stories “monthly” about problems with the F-35 fighter jets, but doesn’t bother to address the specific issues. Instead, he seems to be saying only those with access to Lockheed Martin’s secret information, or buddies who disclose the content of secret reports, like Shimooka himself, can have an informed opinion.

The notion the F-35 will be cheaper than other options is risible. Shimooka bases this on projections for mass production of the plane “over the coming decades” — projections that come courtesy of the prime beneficiary, Lockheed Martin itself? After the massive problems and cost overruns with the F-35 to date, how credible are such forecasts? Yet Shimooka dismisses our own auditors’ general concern over costs beyond 20 years “because it is nearly impossible to accurately predict the cost of fuel and salaries that far in the future.” The pension industry seems to do it.Zac Campbell, Vancouver.

Physicians’ duty

Re: Assisted Suicide To Proceed In Quebec, Dec. 23.Until recently, the Criminal Code prohibited assisted suicide and stated no person may consent to death being inflicted on him or her. These laws were struck down in February 2015 by the Supreme Court of Canada, after a challenge by several people, including a physician. The judges removed the limitation on assisted suicide, then extended it to involve physicians. It seems that, since one of the appellants was a physician, they assumed this to be a legitimate role for physicians in general. However, that physician was in flagrant contravention of millenniums of medical teaching and tradition.

The Hippocratic oath proscribes “giving a deadly drug to anyone” and has been the basis for the public trust of physicians for 2,400 years. Abandoning it can only open a Pandora’s box of harm to vulnerable patients, especially the handicapped, elderly and demented. It is therefore unconscionable the profession is hastening to embrace this violation of one of its most enduring and defining principles.

It is the responsibility of the medical colleges, whose first duty is to protect the public, and of our leaders in the Canadian Medical Association, to flatly refuse — as professional bodies – to accede to the wholesale destruction of this pillar of the doctor-patient relationship and patient security.Dr. Richard R.J. Smyth, Coquitlam, B.C.

Cozying up to Castro

Re: Minaj’s $2M Show Strikes Sour Note, Dec. 21.The list of entertainers who visited dictators to perform omitted Carole King, who many years ago made a pilgrimage to Havana to serenade Fidel Castro, the Stalinist tyrant she adored, with her song, “You’ve got a friend.” She likely still believes the dissidents in Cuba’s dungeons get the same level of health care as the toadies in the Castro brothers’ entourage.Dan Sonnenschein, Vancouver.

Hitting out

Re: A Spanking Is In Order, Dec. 22.If corporal punishment is such an effective method to improve behaviour, why do we restrict its use to disciplining children? It could be an effective tool for business to improve productivity. Nothing like a literal kick in the derrière to speed up the line. Oh, right, I forgot. Employees have legal protection against such actions, whereas children do not.Brian Caines, Ottawa.

When I was eight or nine I stole from my mother’s purse. When she discovered the theft, she put me over her knee and gave me a severe spanking. I never stole again.Ian Gentles, Toronto.

How do we teach children that it is wrong to hit others, if their parents, who are supposed to love them more than anyone else in the world hit them? Unless you can justify this, spanking should be banned and considered morally wrong.Tod McNab, Vancouver.

It’s the malleability of Christmas dinner that can make it so challenging to plan. Which is to say, choice can be intimidating.

At Thanksgiving, it’s about the turkey. Valentine’s Day demands chocolate. Easter? Ham or lamb. And Fourth of July is all burgers and dogs all the time. But Christmas doesn’t enjoy a similar food association that presets the menu as happens with so many other holidays. (And Christmas goose doesn’t count because that only happens in Dickens’ novels.) All of which tends to leave us scrambling.

When I was a kid, my mother often did ham. Not because we loved it or it felt special, but because my mother is vegan and it was easy for her to cook. When I was a teenager, we switched to mountains of shrimp with butter. Also easy, and because why not? After I got married, we started eating Italian. Not because we’re Italian, but because pasta and meatballs is a quick and easy meal to assemble in the midst of the gifting and visiting chaos.

It wasn’t until a couple years ago that I finally settled on something that not only was easy, but also felt celebratory. A massive beef roast. Not earth shattering, of course. But for some reason it took nearly 40 years for me to reach this point. Tender and juicy, a roast feels indulgent. And when treated right, it can pack tons of flavour. But it also is utterly simple to prepare.

So I’m sharing my Christmas beef roast recipe, which gets intense savoury flavours from a rub of fresh rosemary and cracked peppercorns. All you need to do is rub it on the meat, pop it in the oven, then head back to the festivities. This recipe even makes its own side dish — butter-roasted potatoes that bathe in the juices of the meat.

1. Heat the oven to 400°F.2. In a 9-by-14-inch metal (stovetop-safe) roasting pan, combine the potatoes and melted butter. Toss to coat, then arrange in a single layer. Set aside.3. In a mini food processor or blender, combine the peppercorns, salt and rosemary. Process until well chopped, but not pureed. Transfer to a small bowl and stir in the olive oil. Slather the mixture thickly over the entire roast. Set the roast over the potatoes, then cover with foil and roast for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and continue roasting for another 45 minutes. Reduce the oven to 350°F and roast for another 45 minutes, or until the meat reaches 120°F at the centre.4. Use tongs to transfer the roast to a serving platter. Cover with foil, then with several kitchen towels to stay warm.5. Set the roasting pan with the potatoes over 1 or 2 burners on medium heat on the stovetop. Add the wine and cook, stirring gently, until any browned bits from the bottom of the pan are released and the sauce thickens, about 3 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice. Slice the roast thinly, then serve with the potatoes. Spoon the pan sauce over the potatoes.serves 10

CHICAGO — Nancy Powers had to adjust her travel routine when her best friend and travel partner, Phyllis Wesley, was diagnosed with a degenerative brain condition that affects her speech and comprehension.

Juggling bags and leaving her 61-year-old friend alone even for a second became too worrisome. Packing too much into a day became problematic.

“I’ve had to learn how to pace her and how to pace myself,” said Powers, 63, of Montgomery, Alabama.

Caregivers face an assortment of challenges when travelling with a frail relative, friend or someone with dementia. Packing medications, getting to and from the airport and managing schedules and family activities all can be difficult.

Every person reacts differently to stress, and it’s impossible to suggest one-size-fits-all tips, but in general, experts suggest scheduling a doctor visit before the trip and emphasize patience and planning as key elements of travelling. Caregivers say carrying snacks, trying to maintain a routine and carrying music and games are also all helpful when travelling.

Sheri Yarbrough, 54, said her 88-year-old mother, Muriel Yarbrough, has dementia and wants to eat every two hours or so. If she doesn’t eat, Yarborough said her mother gets quiet and upset. “She’s always been a grazer,” Yarbrough said, adding, “It’s easier to intervene than to make the behaviour stop.”

Nam Y. Huh/The Associated PressCaregivers say carrying snacks, trying to maintain a routine and carrying music and games are helpful when travelling.

Experts say it’s important to try to keep to the dementia patient’s routine. So, on a recent trip from their home in Chicago to California, Yarborough packed instant oatmeal, milk in 3-ounce containers and a large cup to mix the two. She also brought along frozen yogurt to help keep the milk cold and turkey-and-cheese roll-ups.

Most experts suggest nonstop flights when travelling with someone with dementia, but Yarbrough knows that her mother can’t sit for more than two-and-a-half hours. So she made sure there was a stop in Denver, where they were able to walk around the terminal, greeting children and adults alike.

John Schall, chief executive of Caregiver Action Network, suggests that caregivers stay physically close to a person with dementia. If grandpa is grabbing to your arm for support, let him take it, Schall said. He’ll be less likely to become confused and agitated. It also helps to pack puzzles for entertainment and familiar objects, such as a blanket, that you can point to in order to remind him that he’s safe.

“There are always going to be circumstances, glitches and meltdowns and that will pass,” Schall said. “Roll with the roller coaster. It will not last long.”

If your loved one is getting increasingly anxious, and you feel your anxiety rising, experts suggest focusing on breathing. Try talking slowly and calmly as you look for a quiet place or a chair.

Cheryl Levin Folio and her husband, Michael, who has early onset Alzheimer’s disease, travel often from Highland Park, Illinois, to their second home in Florida and to visit family.

She has a chalkboard in both homes, where she writes the date, the day of the week and the itinerary for the day. And both homes have similar photographs, to help him acclimate.

At the airport, Levin Folio, 55, said she makes sure to hold her husband’s identification card, money clip, water and cellphone as they are going through the TSA process. That way, when he starts worrying that someone robbed him, she can remind him that she has those items.

“I have several money clips and wallets so that when you lose one, you don’t sweat it,” Levin Folio said.

She also tries to be among the first to board a flight. Otherwise, her husband, 59, starts to feel claustrophobic. After finding their seats, she helps him with the headphones and puts on music to calm him down. She recently bought an adapter so that they can plug two headphones on the iPad and watch movies together.

The idea, said Folio, is not to baby her husband, but to empower him by creating solutions for his limitations. “I can be his wingman,” she said.

Winter, 1915. Christmas Day approached. The trenches outside Ypres, in southern Belgium, were filled with Canadian soldiers. There were thousands of them. Hungry, cold, battered and sick, they were covered with mud, infested with lice, fending off rats.

The Germans huddled in their own trenches, close enough to hear the Canadians talk.

Men on both sides prayed for a small miracle, an informal “Christmas Day truce” like the ones observed along the front lines the previous year, when, for just a few hours, the combattants put down their weapons, sang carols, even mingled and exchanged small gifts.

A year later — 100 years ago — with losses on both sides mounting and the fighting getting more intense, could there be another Christmas armistice?

At 40, Lance Cpl. George D’All was older than most of the other enlisted Canadians at the front. The diminutive grocery store clerk from Montreal was already a father of four, and a widower: his wife had died before he joined the 23rd Battalion, part of a Canadian reserve regiment assembled late in 1914.

BEN NELMS for National PostWWI veteran George D'All in a pictured at his grandson, Jack Moxam home in South Surrey, British Columbia on December 9, 2015.

The 23rd shipped to England and in May, 1915, they landed in France, where they reinforced a gutted 3rd Battalion. Within hours, D’All got his first look at the German enemy, or “Fritz.”

“About half an hour from the trench we were first reminded we were at war, when one of our number fell, mortally wounded through the stomach,” he recalled for his four daughters, in a long, detailed letter he wrote from the Belgian trenches a year later.

“I felt sorry to think the Canadian government and Patriotic Fund spent so much money to make a good soldier out of me and I was to be killed like a rat in a hole on the first night.”

Constant shelling, machine-gun fire, sniper attacks and, eventually, poisonous gas: D’All and his mates encountered the worst, for many months. They fought back, sometimes with nothing but their bayonets. “Six days on the front line, six days in support, six days out,” he wrote. It didn’t matter where they went. Death surrounded them.

D’All recalled some especially hard battles around Festubert, a small town in north-western France: “Those days at Festubert were like a dream to me. Every few steps we would take brought us to where a dead man or men were lying unburied in the hundreds.”

In late 1915, the 3rd Battalion moved into Belgium and the fields of West Flanders. The Canadians were installed at the notorious Ypres Salient, where the Germans deployed their poisonous gas.

BEN NELMS for National PostJack Moxam holds a letter regarding his grandfather, George D'All death in the trenches during WWI at his home in South Surrey, British Columbia on December 9, 2015.

Then Christmas arrived. D’All and the others sat in trenches, at a place they called “Dead Man’s Corner.” The weather was fair. The Germans were close. The shelling and shooting had stopped. A Yuletide peace seemed sure to break out.

“We had strict orders to hold no parley with the enemy should he make any advances,’ D’All recalled.

“But in spite of this warning, when Fritz called over ‘Merry Christmas Canadians,’ our sentries bobbed up their heads and returned the compliment. In a few minutes there was a whole bunch looking over the parapets from both sides. and one old whiskered fellow waved a box of cigars at us and invited us over.

“A sergeant, however, put a stop to it by opening fire and hitting two of their men, and when they returned it, one of our lads was shot through the head. That put an end to our Christmas gathering quickly, and night came.”

According to a 3rd Battalion diary entry for the day, two Canadians — Lance Cpl. Richard John Kingsley Nash and Pte. Frank Joseph Keown — were “shot through head and killed” in the Christmas Day incident.

A “quiet day,” noted the diarist.

The next day was not. “Considerable artillery activity on both sides,” the diarist wrote in the battalion logbook.

D’All offered his daughters a more detailed account, relaying how German shelling killed a dozen Canadians.

He also described his own misadventure: “I was hit and had a miraculous escape from a rifle grenade. I was shaving at the time and it exploded within two feet of my head, but being in a stooped position to look in the mirror saved me, as the charge passed mainly over my head. The small shell fragments lodged in my cranium. I did not stop to finish the shave but I had to beat it quickly to the dressing station.”

So ended the bleak 1915 Christmas season, on the front.

I was hit and had a miraculous escape from a rifle grenade. I was shaving at the time and it exploded within two feet of my head

D’All and the 3rd Battalion were relieved from their position in March, only to be moved closer to Ypres where, if anything, the fighting grew worse.

“This place is a second Festubert,” D’All wrote in his letter during a short break.

“We lost poor Harry Godfrey the last trip to the front line, and I am afraid we will lose a good many more before we leave this place. Perhaps I may be among that number, God knows, but if so, I can trust all of you to act as you think best and my only regret will be at losing what promises to be the best part of my life … With love, au revoir, Papa.”

The letter is dated May 19, 1916. It found its way home and now resides with D’All’s grandson, Jack Moxam, a Royal Canadian Navy veteran.

George D’All never made it back. A month after writing the letter, he was killed near Ypres, at the Battle of Mont Sorrel. Like hundreds more soldiers who fell there the same day, his body was left on the battlefield.

Their remains were lost, but their names are inscribed at the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing in Ypres.

They didn’t see another Christmas, lest we forget.

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/news/christmas-bloody-christmas-the-holiday-armistice-that-wasnt-for-canadian-soldiers/feed0std1223-na-ww1-xmasBEN NELMS for National PostBEN NELMS for National PostThis is a tale of two Santa Clauses: Real-beard Santa, and fake-beard. Guess which makes the bigger buckshttp://news.nationalpost.com/news/world/this-is-a-tale-of-two-santa-clauses-real-beard-santa-and-fake-beard-guess-which-makes-the-bigger-bucks
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/world/this-is-a-tale-of-two-santa-clauses-real-beard-santa-and-fake-beard-guess-which-makes-the-bigger-bucks#respondMon, 21 Dec 2015 17:41:49 +0000https://nationalpostcom.wordpress.com?p=976196&preview_id=976196

This is a tale of two Santa Clauses.

Real-beard Santa. Fake-beard Santa.

Pay attention. There is money at stake.

Real-beard Santa said the heck with the sleigh and reindeer and flew by jet on an all-expense paid trip to Shenzhen, China, a couple of years ago. He collected US$2,500, free room, free hotel meals, all for sitting in the five-star hotel’s Santa throne for an hour each evening.

“That was a highlight,” said Ed Burgh, 68, of Fredericksburg, Virginia. “I’m hoping to do it again next year. I am already booking next year’s gigs. I have two so far.”

Fake-beard Santa bemoans his lack of whiskers.

“That’s why I don’t make the big money,” said Michael Levick, 62, of Washington, D.C., who has been playing the big jolly fellow since he was 16. “We are talking 50 per cent more for real-beard Santas. You are not even going to be considered for a mall job without a real beard. It’s just the way they roll these days.”

Don’t shed any tears for Levick yet. He does well for sitting around, pillows padding his mid-section, offering thundering “Ho, Ho, Hos” to little ones.

Washington Post / Bonnie Jo MountLevick's Santa costume.

He once pocketed nearly US$1,000 for sitting (baking, really) a few hours next to a fireplace at a swanky Mount Vernon party.

“The host piles on logs just to cook you,” said Levick. “I was sweating bullets.”

Fake beard and all, appearances at parties, lunches and country clubs swept US$6,000 into his pocket during the good years. And that was just for December.

“That’s all gone,” said Levick. He’ll be lucky if he takes down US$1,500 or US$2,000 this season. The first blow was Sept. 11, 2001, “the year we couldn’t be happy at Christmas. It changed everything.” The financial crisis took even more business away.

So Levick has to be nimble. Next week, the part-time actor and local tour guide is donning a glitter-covered, white jumpsuit, sunglasses and wig to play Elvis at a holiday office.

“Santa isn’t politically correct any more,” said Levick, who charges US$200 for the first hour, then US$100 for each hour after that. “Kids still love him. But the office party crowd doesn’t go there anymore.”

Don’t wave bye-bye to Santa just yet.

Related

Brian Wilson of Orange County, California-based Santa For Hire, a temp agency for Kris Kringles (and for Burgh), has placed Santas in 425 jobs worldwide this season. His firm will pay more than US$150,000 to his various Santas.

Wilson’s firm bills companies anywhere from US$150 an hour on up for a Santa. Santa For Hire, whose tag line is “Providing Real Bearded Santas since 1999,” pays the Santa roughly 60 to 70 percent of that, or about US$80 of a US$150 gig. The rest goes to Santa For Hire to cover its costs.

“Clients pay us before the gig, then the Santas either call in their hours or go online,” he said. “We pay them twice monthly. It’s like having temporary employees.”

Wilson, who works in real estate during the off-season, said his Santas go anywhere, including Spain, Dubai and Singapore.

They even supply a Santa to North Pole, Alaska, a summer tourist attraction near Fairbanks. The North Pole Santa — of course he’s from the North Pole — earns between US$13,000 to US$15,000, travel and expenses covered, for Santa’s summer hibernation season. The Thanksgiving to New Year’s North Pole Santa gets between US$7,000 and US$8,000.

Wilson takes Santa work seriously. He does phone interviews and requests photos for each prospective candidate. He also orders up a national background check to see whether there is a criminal record.

Wilson breaks Santa work into two categories, too.

First is the “Mall Santa,” the iron bottoms who sit and sit and sit for hours, posing for photos. Mall Santas tend to like the security of knowing they have a solid month of work, Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve.

Then there are the “corporate party” Santas, generally actors and performers who ham it up with songs, hearty “Ho, Ho, Hos,” and think on their, um, fête.

I usually start off a party by singing ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.’ That way, you are in control and that’s very important. You can’t let the parents and kids push you and take over. There has to be an order

Corporate Santas need to be nimble, with the Santa suit packed and ready to go, whether it’s a two-hour car ride to a country club or an 18-hour sleigh ride to China.

Fake-bearded Levick sticks to parties.

“I usually start off a party by singing ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.’ That way, you are in control and that’s very important. You can’t let the parents and kids push you and take over. There has to be an order.”

Wilson said Santa needs to get there early and stay in character.

“The Santa needs to remember he is the focus and all eyes are on him,” Wilson said. “It’s really about attitude.”

As for handling the toy requests, Burgh follows his own rule.

“I never promise anything,” Burgh said, even when some parents nod their heads like crazy and signal that the kid is getting his wish.

He hugs kids, but no kisses allowed.

Though Burgh has the requisite real-beard for Mall Santa, he avoids them.

“It’s mega-hours. When I had the mall, I started the day after Thanksgiving and went through Dec. 24th. It was 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.”

Burgh will pull down US$3,000 and US$4,000 this season, which he will use to help pay some bills.

Both Santas own their own outfits. Levick bought his 20 years ago from Rubies Costumes out of New York City for around US$280.

Burgh, who spent US$200 to attend Santa School in New Jersey, has two suits that he bought online for about US$250 each, boots for US$60 and a belt for US$120.

Levick loves it. His first Santa gig came when the head of the kindergarten school at his southeastern Pennsylvania church asked Levick, then 16, to play the jolly big guy.

“I’ve always been a ham,” said the occasional thespian.

He may have been a ham, but he isn’t shaped like one. His thin profile back then was very un-Santa. So he put on the suit and a tobacco-reeked fake beard, stuffed some pillows over his belly and faked his way through a Santa session.

His first real job was in Washington in 1978, when he replaced Willard Scott for an Embassy Row fundraiser.

“It was the most beautiful suit I ever saw,” he said. “Beautiful, natural rabbit fur. The beard did not smell like cigarettes.”

He would eventually catch on with a Cleveland Park firm that booked costume jobs for actors and showpeople.

“I became the firm’s head Santa. It’s go-to Santa. I did the voice, ‘Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas!’ I really act it up.”

Both real-beard and fake-beard Santa said the kids are the most enjoyable part of their job. Really.

“The kids are great,” said Burgh, who decided to be a Santa after retiring from the Coast Guard. “They come sit on your lap. Some cry. Here is this really old guy with a big red suit, bright beard. He scares them. But you deal with it.”

Most kids like toys, but their first questions tend to be, “Where are the reindeer?” and “How did you get here?”